'Yo, you guys can't leave anything in the locker room ... I know it's hot, but you guys have got to get down. Forget it's concrete, just pretend it's a wooden floor out here.' The MC is getting a little rattled in The Cage, a open air basketball court in Greenwich Village. It's the first instalment of this year's Rock Steady Crew anniversary, and the searing Manhattan heat is taking its toll.

The annual event was launched by RSC president and B-Boy legend Crazy Legs in 1991 to protect the heritage of B-Boying. More commonly known as breakdancing in the UK, B-Boying is one of the four core elements of hip-hop, along with DJing, rapping and graffiti. 'It's an opportunity for people to make this pilgrimage to the US to the mecca of hip-hop and the birthplace of the hip-hop,' explains Legs, 'and to meet different pioneers, as well as meet each other and bridge community and cultural gaps.'

This year is the 29th anniversary of Rock Steady Crew, which may seem an odd year to particularly celebrate, but Rock Steady Crew, - the most famous B-Boy crew thanks to exposure like the cameo in Flashdance and their million-selling 1983 single 'Hey You, The Rock Steady Crew' - are about to be dropped back into the limelight by the Playstation game B-Boy, which Legs has spent the last two years advising on.

Crews from all over the States and Europe have descended for the event, keen to battle. B-Boys each have three 'runs' or rounds, in which to out-do each other. 'I would try to make sure I won the first round,' Legs advises when I ask him for his top tips, 'and maybe give up the next round, and come back stronger in the third round, 'cos you don't have to win all three rounds, so why waste your moves.'

'A lot of people can do one move, but the key is understanding how you link moves.'

All those I speak to are keen to stress that B-Boying is a way of life. 'I've been dancing for eight years, but I quit for two years and got into the wrong scene,' explains 23-year-old Form of the New Styles crew from Gravesend, the Brooklyn neighbourhood bordering Coney Island, 'getting back into being a B-boy saved me.' Today's eventual victor, Ken Fury of the Essential Styles crew from Denver, Colorado, echoes the sentiment: 'B-Boying has kept me out of trouble, and led to other avenues like acting, poetry, designing clothes ... B-Boying opens doors.'

Many of the same crews show up for the main event at Cro Bar the following day. Along with further battles, there's the Spy Awards, B-Boy's equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, and impromptu PAs by Gza of the Wu-Tang Clan, whose son, Young Justice, is now his DJ and Masta Killa. There's also a rare appearance from Joe-Joe, original founder of the Rock Steady Crew. As for Legs, he's touching 40 and still in the game. What's his youthful secret - B-boying? 'Yeah,' he smiles.